WWII HIROSHIMA

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WWII HIROSHIMA

• A decisive end to the war in the Pacific.

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The Decision to Drop Nazi Germany surrendered
unconditionally at 241 a.m., May 7, ending World
War II in Europe. At midnight May 8, the guns
stopped firing. The Pacific war with Japan, who
was Germany's ally, continued. U. S. President
Harry S. Truman, English Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met
in Potsdam, Germany between July 17 and August 2,
1945, to discuss strategies to end the war in the
Pacific.
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The Potsdam Conference When the Potsdam
Conference opened, the news of the successful
testing of an atomic bomb at Trinity Site, New
Mexico, reached President Truman. The atomic bomb
was now a reality. President Truman's first
action was to call together his chief advisors
for their opinion on whether the bomb should be
used. The consensus was that it would help bring
about an early end to the war with Japan, and
would be dropped on the city of Hiroshima.
Churchill, Truman Stalin at Potsdam
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Enola Gay The Little Boy
Little Boy was the first nuclear weapon used in
warfare. It exploded approximately 1,800 feet
over Hiroshima, Japan, on the morning of August
6, 1945, with a force equal to 20,000 tons of
TNT. Immediate deaths were between 70,000 to
130,000. Little Boy was dropped from a B-29
bomber piloted by U.S. Army Air Force Col. Paul
W. Tibbets. Tibbets had named the plane Enola Gay
after his mother the night before the atomic
attack.
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Little Boy After being released, it took about a
minute for Little Boy to reach the point of
explosion. Little Boy exploded at approximately
815 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) when it reached
an altitude of 2,000 ft above the building that
is today called the "A-Bomb Dome." The July 24,
1995 issue of Newsweek writes "A bright light
filled the plane," wrote Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets,
the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped
the first atomic bomb. "We turned back to look at
Hiroshima. The city was hidden by that awful
cloud...boiling up, mushrooming." For a moment,
no one spoke. Then everyone was talking. "Look at
that! Look at that! Look at that!" exclaimed the
co-pilot, Robert Lewis, pounding on Tibbets's
shoulder. Lewis said he could taste atomic
fission it tasted like lead. Then he turned away
to write in his journal. "My God," he asked
himself, "what have we done?" (special report,
"Hiroshima August 6, 1945")
The picture above shows the devastating effect
that the Little Boy bomb had on just one small
part of the city.
"Little Boy" is the nick name given to the atomic
bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. It
was Monday morning. Little Boy was dropped from
the Enola Gay, one of the B-29 bombers that flew
over Hiroshima on that day.
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Click on the speaker to hear a news broadcast
announcing the dropping of the first atomic bomb
on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Although the
bomb Little Boy was ready for use on August 2,
1945, bad weather delayed dropping it over Japan.
At 815 on the morning of August 6, 1945, a large
portion of the city of Hiroshima was destroyed
when Little Boy was dropped. Of a population of
256,000, more than 70,000 people died
immediately. Approximately half of the city had
been levelled.
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Hiroshima- A Survivors Story Four years after
arriving in Japan, only 15-year-old Mitsuo and
his mother still live in Hiroshima. His eldest
brother, Toshio, is in the Japanese merchant
marines. It's a bright, clear day. Mitsuo
leaves his house around 730 a.m. and walks to
work. He gets there about 8 a.m. He and his
friends gather outside, waiting for their
supervisor to give today's pep talk. Mitsuo's
mother leaves for work. Every day, she takes the
same streetcar. But today she realizes she has
forgotten some papers. She runs back into the
house to get them. Mitsuo's mother misses her
usual streetcar, and has to wait for the next
one. It's nearly 815 a.m. American B-29 bombers
appear overhead. The sirens wail, but Mitsuo and
his co-workers ignore them, as usual. The planes
are headed in the direction of Tokyo. Then, for
the first time ever, Mitsuo sees the planes
reappear over Hiroshima. They're in position now.
Looking in the sky, Mitsuo sees an object. In the
instant it takes for the bomb to drop, he feels
no fear, only curiosity about this thing that
glistens in the sun.
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Mitsuo watches the object fall behind a
mountain, Mount Hiji. The exact spot where the
bomb explodes is called "ground zero." Mitsuo is
about two miles away, with the mountain in
between. At the moment of explosion, he sees a
blinding flash of light. Then the shock wave
hits. Mitsuo is blown several feet into the air
and knocked briefly unconscious. He awakens to
see a giant mushroom cloud rising into the air.
Mitsuo is a witness to the first atomic bombing
in history. And Mount Hiji, which shields him
from the radiation, will help him live to tell
about it. Mitsuo's mother is outside when the
bomb explodes. She is about three miles from
ground zero. She is not injured except for a burn
on her neck. In another 20 years, cancer will
develop in that spot, and she'll die from it in
1969. Still, Mitsuo's mother is luckier than the
people on the street car that she missed. They
all die in the blast.
These Pictures show the injuries of some of the
survivors of the atomic blast.
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The Effect Of The Atomic Bomb.
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These photographs show what the actual effect of
the atomic bomb was. Click on the link below to
find out what happened after the bomb was dropped
on Hiroshima.
http//www.cnmi-guide.com/history/ww2/12/main12.ht
ml
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The Future.
In the years after the dropping of the bomb the
people of Hiroshima declared that The knowledge
and wisdom of all men must be gathered and
employed to build eternal peace. The tremendous
effort which men now expend on war shall be
re-channelled into planning for and building a
mutually supportive Community. Click on the
picture above to find out more about the park
built in Hiroshima that serves as a reminder of
the day the bomb was dropped.
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Use the information from the power point
presentation to answer the following questions in
your jotter
Group A
1- At the beginning of 1945 the war was being
fought in Europe and in the Pacific. What
happened in May of that year to change the
situation? 2- What important event happened in
Potsdam in 1945? What decision was made there
and why was it made? 3-What were Enola Gay, and
the Little Boy? 4-Use the information to describe
the effect of the bomb on Hiroshima.
Mention Buildings People (casualties,
survivors) Long Term Effects (ie. Radiation
levels etc.) 5-A second bomb was dropped on the
city of Nagasaki. What was the total number of
casualties from the dropping of the two
bombs? 6-What was the immediate result of the
dropping of the two bombs? 7-Use the hyperlink to
say what the Hiroshima Peace Park is and what
things can be found there. Draw a diagram of one
of the things you will find there.
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Copy and complete in your
jotters
Group B
The Atomic Bomb At the beginning of 1945 the war
was being fought in _ _ _ _ _ _ and in the
Pacific. In May 1945, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
surrendered, ending war in Europe. In Potsdam in
1945, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ decided that
the Atomic Bomb should be used. It was thought
that this would help speed up the end of the _ _
_. "Little Boy" is the nick name given to the_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ dropped on Hiroshima on
August 6, 1945.. Little Boy was dropped from the
Enola Gay - the _ _ _ _ _ _ that flew over
Hiroshima on that day. Effects of the Atomic
Bomb When the bomb was dropped over the city, the
temperature reached several _ _ _ _ _ _ _
degrees. A second later the air reached the
point of white hot heat and then a huge fireball
was formed. In less than one minute the atomic
cloud had reached a height of more than one half
mile. At the centre of the bomb, iron melted.
Within nine hundred feet of the centre,the
surface of  granite melted. Within one mile,
railroad ties, fences and _ _ _ _ _  burst into _
_ _ _ _ _.   This single bomb left 118,661 _ _ _
_, 30,524 severely injured, 48,606 slightly
injured and 3,677 missing.
Germany war flames million Europe Atomic
Bomb B29 bomber dead President Truman trees

Use the hyperlink to say what the Hiroshima Peace
Park is and what things can be found there.
Draw a diagram of one of the things you will find
there.